It's official - the 2010 ACL campaign has died a death. And sadly it went with a whimper rather than a bang.

Frontale actually started quite brightly. The hosts looked nervy and Taniguchi, Ito and Tasaka all spurned good chances to take the lead.

But it was Beijing who went ahead midway through the first half, countering quickly after a poorly delivered Vitor free-kick. There were echoes of Saturday's match against Kobe as Frontale found themselves badly under-staffed at the back, allowing Australian striker Joel Griffiths too much time and space to pull down a cross-field pass and prod a cool finish past Eiji.

As usual, conceding against the run of play left Frontale rattled. All of a sudden, they were struggling to string two passes together and the Chinese were evidently growing in confidence.

Things soon got even worse for the visitors when Renatinho had to leave the field with what is hopefully nothing too serious.

The half-time break gave coach Takahata a chance to rally his troops. But the malaise that had seeped into their game before the interval continued into the second half.

Within minutes of the restart Beijing had doubled their lead. The big, bald Brazilian, Erivaldo, managed to steal in behind a disorganised defensive line. He then calmly took the ball round Eiji and slotted into an empty net, leaving Frontale with a mountain to climb.

The home team sat back for the remaining 40 minutes, content to defend their lead. It's a sad indictment on Frontale that, despite dominating possession, they failed to trouble the Beijing keeper with anything but speculative long-range efforts until the dying minutes of the game.

Make no mistake, Beijing are not a great side. But they took their chances and defended their lead stubbornly.

As for Frontale, their passing was simply atrocious for a good hour in the middle of the game. Nor were they greatly assisted by Kurotsu, who struggled to hold up the ball in what increasingly became a lone striker role. How different might things have been had Chong Tese not picked up that silly red card against Melbourne?

All things considered, it's better to go out of a competition on (lack of) merit rather than through controversy. And let's be honest, given the results in previous games, it was a surprise to most that we were still in contention at this stage of the tournament.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. Just three more games til the World Cup break, during which the team really needs to consolidate its position near the top of the table. Who knows...might even have a fully-fit Juninho back by the time action resumes in July.

They say that Luck is a fickle mistress. On the evidence of the last two games, you'd be hard pressed to argue with them.

Much as last week's 3-0 defeat could have turned out differently, were it not for some failings in judgement from the men in black, so could Vissel's fortunes have fared better on Saturday had the referee's decisions been slightly more orthodox in the opening 20 minutes.

There was drama aplenty from the very first whistle. Frontale may perhaps be accused of under-estimating their opponents going into the game. They opted to rest Taniguchi ahead of the midweek trip to Beijing, instead relying solely on Inamoto for midfield ballast. And judging by the numbers committed forward for a corner in the first 60 seconds, caution was clearly not part of their gameplan.

However, this bullishness was almost immediately punished. Having cleared the danger from that opening-minute corner, Kobe latched onto Mori's poor defensive header and released the speedy Ken Tokura (not that long ago a Frontale bench-warmer) on a lightning raid into the box.

Only a brilliant covering run from Inamoto, muscling the youngster off the ball, prevented a clear scoring opportunity. And despite intial fears that the referee might point to the spot, the replays confirmed that Tokura went down too easily.

But having survived that immediate scare, Frontale continued to leave their pedestrian centre-back pairing exposed to the pace of Tokura and his similarly impish strike partner Keiji Ogawa.

On 3 minutes, Terada was caught on the wrong side of his man. The veteran defender appeared to have a little tug on Ogawa's shirt, allowing Igawa the extra time to cover in behind. The referee opted to play the advantage, but the striker was quickly closed down. A free-kick was the least Kobe deserved. And Terada was very lucky to avoid a yellow.

Even worse for the vistors was the drama that immediately unfolded at the other end. From a long clearance, Kurotsu did well to press Hiroyuki Komoto, rob him of possession and home in on goal. His touch was a little heavy as he went past the last defender, but Teruaki Kobayashi's lunge gave the striker the invitation he needed to go down.

When it goes against your team, you call it "cheating". When it goes for you, it's called "professionalism". Whichever way you look at it, the referee awarded the penalty and Renatinho made no repeat of last week's mistake.

Depite this early adversity, Kobe continued to look dangerous on the break. And after a few half-chances at either end, yet another rapier attack exposed Frontale's frail rearguard.

The ball was moved swiftly up to Tokura who nodded it past an isolated Terada before being cynically dragged down. It looked like a straight red - I can only guess the referee deemed that an outrushing Kawashima would have got to the ball before Tokura. Terada escaped with a yellow but, in light of his earlier transgression on Ogawa, he should really have been off.

The resulting free kick hit the wall and looked to rebound off Tasaka's hand (although it certainly wasn't intentional). Eiji made a good block on Edmilson's shot and as the ball looped up in the air Ryosuke Matsuoka was adjudged to have impeded the keeper before Park Kang-Jo's shot hit the back of the net.

It's hardly rare for goalkeepers to get the benefit of the doubt in such circumstances. But the look on Eiji's face afterwards suggests Vissel may once again have been more than a little hard done by.

Frontale had the upper hand for the remaining three quarters of the game. They gradually adapted to Kobe's counter-attacking style and were aided by Tokura's failure to re-emerge for the second half (having taken a knock just before the break). A bat-masked Okubo came on as his replacement but without the same kind of pace he made little impact on a more cohesive-looking home defence.

Kurotsu put daylight between the two teams early in the second half, lunging at a loose ball after some muscular play from Chong Tese. The Korean (who had wasted a hatful of opportunities from open play) then put the result beyond doubt 20 minutes later, wresting spot-kick duties from Renatinho after he'd been brought down from behind by Komoto.

Komoto received his marching orders (he was already on a yellow), Chong's penalty went in off the post and the rest of the game played out without major incident. However, Kobe fans will be wondering what might have been, had Frontale been forced to play three quarters of the game with only ten men.

Bad result, but take heart - this performance was light years ahead of some other recent losses.

Conceding two goals in as many minutes at the very start of an away fixture is hardly a recipe for success. But, apart from this (albeit fairly major) blip, Frontale honestly weren't too bad.

I'm not going to attempt to excuse the two-goal head-start presented to the hosts. Hajime Hosogai's opener had some welly behind it, but it was straight at Eiji. Unfortunately the big fella botched his punch and the ball ended up skewing off his gloves into the top corner. Unlucky or careless? Probably a bit of both...okay, probably slightly more the latter.

Then within seconds, perhaps still in shock at Eiji's rare blunder, the Frontale midfield was carved open by a simple give-and-go. Tatsuya Tanaka bore down on a back-tracking defence and unleashed a 20-yarder into the very same corner. It was a good strike (Eiji had no chance this time) but the defending was positively vaporous.

To their credit Frontale responded strongly, mounting a spell of concerted pressure. Kurotsu hit the woodwork (although Kashiwagi did the same at the other end moments later) and the Urawa keeper made a couple of decent saves.

It was vital for the visitors to claw something back before the break, and sadly it took an erroneous offside flag to prevent them from doing so.

Renatinho won a free-kick at the corner of the penalty box. He then sent in a dangerous delivery that found Igawa at the back-post via an Urawa head. The centre-back made no mistake with his finish, but his celebrations were curtailed by a raised flag on the far side. The referee's assistant must have deemed the flick-on to have come off a Frontale player, rendering Igawa offside. Bad decision.

Had Igawa's goal been allowed to stand, there could have been a very different outcome to this match. But when the game resumed after the interval the longer the two-goal margin remained, the more open Frontale were forced to leave themselves at the back.

Now, is it just me, or do you hate it when football officials choose to atone for their mistakes by giving an equally bad call the other way? Well, there was another example of this on Sunday.

In the second half, the referee almost gifted Frontale a way back into the game when he pointed to the penalty spot for a dubious foul on Chong Tese. The challenge wasn't inside the area, and in any case I'm not entirely sure the defender did anything wrong.

However, Renatinho's spot-kick was a tame one. And, to add insult to injury, he somehow managed to slice the rebound over the crossbar. It was at this stage that I think most fans accepted it was just going to be one of those days.

As the clock ticked on, with Frontale's all-out attack mode beginning to wane (and the referee deciding that Renatinho's tumbling no longer deserved the benefit of the doubt), Urawa were finding all kinds of space on the break. It was the unlikely Satoshi Horinouchi - brought on to shore up the home defence - who drove home the final nail, arriving late in the box to convert the rebound after Eiji had made another good stop. 3-0. Game over.

Unlike the recent embarrassment in Yokohama, coach Takahata was blameless on this occasion. He did the sensible thing by bringing on the big guns of Kengo and Vitor at half time (earlier than he was probably planning). He even had Noborizato on the touchline stripped and ready to bolster his tiring strikeforce at the precise moment Urawa's third went in. Again, just one of those days.

Important that the team bounces back against Vissel Kobe on Saturday. And then it's crunch time in the ACL on Wednesday with a must-win game in Beijing. Never a dull moment!

Too busy (lazy) to give a full report on this game, which is something I regret because this was classic Frontale. A scoreline of 10-4 would have been a better representation of just how exciting it was.

I don't even want to get started because there are too many layers to unwrap - a veritable Russian doll of a football match. But let it suffice to say a) The ACL campaign is (somehow) very much alive and well and now rests upon a victory in Beijing in two weeks time. And b) Kengo's back! (Check out the news feature linked to below. Match highlights are at the end).

Early goals in each half from Renatinho and Kurotsu paved the way for a comfortable three-point haul in Hiroshima. Vitor Junior, on again as a second-half sub, dribbled the length of the pitch before slotting in a third to add some polish to the final scoreline.

Just 6 minutes in, Sanfrecce were the architects of their own downfall, coughing up possession in a dangerous area and allowing Chong Tese the space to weigh up his options. In the end it was a bread-and-butter finish for Renatinho. But it's further evidence of Chong's improvement that he had the wherewithal to pick out his Brazilian colleague rather than take a pop at goal himself.

Neither keeper was unduly troubled for the rest of the half. Frontale played tidily enough without ever really hitting top gear. The main worry from Hiroshima's perspective was the lack of pressure they were able to exert on an eerily cool, calm and collected Igawa-Terada partnership.

Then, five minutes after the interval, Kurotsu put the game to bed with a fine strike from the corner of the penalty area. From Mori's quickly-taken free-kick, the striker cut back inside his marker before angling a fizzer just inside the near post. Could the keeper have got a stronger hand on it? Was there a slight deflection on the way? Who knows? Who cares?

As the second half wore on, Sanfrecce pushed forward creating more opportunities for Frontale to threaten on the counter. Chong and Renatinho both might have done better against a stretched Sanfrecce defence. Both later managed to force decent stops from Nishikawa in goal.

At the other end, the introduction of Tadanari Lee and Toshihiro Aoyama gave a bit more bite to the Hiroshima attack. But then, just as the home team was beginning to assert itself, came the timely arrival of Vitor Junior.

The pint-sized midfielder sealed the deal almost immediately after coming on for Kurotsu. Picking up possession deep inside his own half, he rolled away from one challenge, brushed off another, raced down the middle and struck from the edge of the box. Impressive stuff from a player who looks like he's finally put his injury woes behind him. Mind you, not the most committed defending from Sanfrecce.

A fun-filled week now lies ahead. First a chance to claw back some self respect in the ACL on Wednesday against runaway group leaders Seongnam Ilhwa. Then the ever-eventful annual trip to Urawa at the weekend.

Hmm... Nice big crowd. But not your average Tamagawa Classico. In fact, I'm still not 100% sure that was actually FC Tokyo playing in white.

Not wanting to be too respectful, but the Tokyo side I remember from last season was all about passion and commitment. They held onto possession well and pressed their opponents quickly and as a team.

Well, I'm not sure what's happened, but on Sunday they looked a shadow of their former selves (perhaps epitomised by the subdued performance of last year's standout player Naohiro Ishikawa). Their control and passing was loose and there was little urgency of any kind.

That's not to say Frontale were great. They started off still looking a little jaded from their midweek travels/travails. And for much of the first half they were as guilty as Tokyo of squandering possession.

HOWEVER, the second half was as one-sided a display as I've seen this year and only Chong Tese knows how he didn't bag at least a barrelful. A one-goal margin really doesn't reveal the true disparity between these two teams on the day.

Chong actually played very well. Having sat out Wednesday's ACL encounter he was certainly a bit fresher and his all-round link-up play was much improved. He had a decent chance to open the scoring after good work from Mori down the right. But his header was all wrong and the ball ended up bouncing tamely into the arms of Tokyo keeper Shuichi Gonda.

Still, it didn't take long for the Korean to atone for his earlier misdemeanor. Kurotsu sent in a cross from near the left corner flag which the Tokyo defence could only clear to the edge of the penalty area. From here an unmarked Chong controlled it off his chest before spanking a blistering volley into the top right corner. Punished!

But, as so often, Frontale immediately went off the boil, allowing their guests a 20-minute purple patch. Tokyo undoubtedly raised their game after going behind, but the hosts just seemed intent on hoofing long balls upfield, committing needless fouls and inviting the next wave of Tokyo pressure.

Naotake Hanyu and the fleetingly-impressive Sota Hirayama both bruised Eiji's woodwork. Hokuto Nakamura snatched at a couple of half chances. But that was as good as it got for the visitors.

After the break it was pretty much one-way traffic. Chong saw a header come back off the crossbar and Gonda made a clutch of fine saves. However, the young keeper (one of the heroes of the 2009 Nabisco Cup final) was at fault for Frontale's second.

Chong took his turn at a free-kick from just outside the box, aiming to send a "daisy cutter" below Tokyo's wall. It kind of went according to plan, bouncing its way underneath the leaping defenders, but there was no real venom in the shot. Still, Gonda must have seen it very late as he could only get a weak hand to the ball before it crossed the goal line.

Tokyo got their consolation goal deep into injury time. It's not often an Igawa/Terada centre-back pairing manages an entire game without a frantic goal-mouth scramble of some description, so it's fitting that this was how the goal came - Konno eventually driving the ball into the roof of the net. The final whistle went shortly after, leaving a rueful Igawa thumping the ground.

The important thing is the three points, though. Especially with Kashima (as ever, the team to beat) losing their first game of the season. Who'd have thought only 5 points would be dropped from the first 5 games (with or without Kengo and Juninho)? Not me!

Well, I certainly didn't see that one coming. A combination of poor shooting, some outstanding saves from Mitch Langerak in the Melbourne goal and a decidedly pungent penalty call conspired to drive what must be a final nail in Frontale's ACL coffin.

It was always going to be a tougher proposition than the rout at Todoroki. A fresh Melbourne side showed much more hunger in midfield and their defence wasn't quite so porous with the experienced Kevin Muscat back in the fold.

Frontale for their part didn't look as sharp - unsurprisingly after the long journey. But despite a decent start by the home team, the visitors were back running the show by the middle of the first half.

Kyohei Noborizato was given a rare start in place of the suspended Chong Tese. The youngster certainly wasn't overawed by the occasion, but Chong's are big boots to fill and he was clearly missed.

Kurotsu played through the middle and had the best of the first-half chances. Breaking clear down the right, he cut inside Muscat who did just enough to unbalance the striker and take the fizz out of his shot. From the resulting corner it was Kurotsu again who rose highest, but his header was acrobatically tipped away by the keeper.

Frontale were getting a lot of possession around the edge of the Melbourne penalty area, but showed a lack of accuracy from mid-range as shot after mis-hit shot went ballooning over the crossbar.

In the second half, the visitors continued to work hard and press forward, but on 60 minutes the referee decided to throw a spanner in the works. Komiyama came across to get goal side of lone Melbourne striker Robbie Kruse and as the two went shoulder to shoulder Kruse collapsed in a heap. (To be fair to the player he looked as surprised as anyone that the penalty had been awarded.) Muscat stepped up and sent Eiji the wrong way and Melbourne into the lead.

Despite playing most of the remaining 30 minutes in the Melbourne half, Frontale were unable to find the back of the net. Langerak made a stunning save from Tasaka, palming his shot onto the woodwork. Then in the dying seconds he somehow managed to tip Renatinho's point-blank effort over the bar.

The young keeper certainly deserves his moment in the limelight, but Frontale's shooting was as much to blame, with a barrage of shots from around the edge of the area continuing to sail high and wide.

The highlight of the match, for me, was the appearance of Vitor Junior as a second-half sub. The diminutive Brazilian trickster has missed the best part of a year through injury, but looks to have lost none of his nifty footwork. It'll take him a while to recover full match fitness, but it's good to have some positive news from the physio's bench.

In the group's other game, Seongnam secured their qualification with a hard-fought 1-0 victory in Beijing. There's still a mathematical possibility that Frontale could steal that all-important second spot, but the chances of Melbourne taking the necessary points off the Chinese in the next round are slim at best.